Hello and welcome to the latest edition of the Giant Bomb Community Spotlight, and I, @zombiepie, am honored to be your host as always. The Fourth of July brings a time for mourning for everyone on Giant Bomb. As many of you know this week marks the second year anniversary of the passing of Ryan. For those of you not already aware Ryan's widow, Anna, is is trying to plan for a posthumous honeymoon that she is attempting to crowdfund. If you click that link you will find information pertaining to what the plan for the trip is, and the t-shirt you will gain if you donate towards the fund.
Now, moving onto the state of the site. Many users have begun reporting issues regarding artifacts appearing while watching videos on Giant Bomb. This issue has been reported to the engineers and they are actively working on the issue. However, if you continue to experience this problem please report the incident here. With this all out of the way let us now move onto the Community Spotlight!
Clip of the Week
@theburlaplemur is back and this week has a handful of hilarious moments from Quick Looks from the past! For those that don't know TheBurlapLemur seeks to locate the funniest moments of EVERY Quick Look on Giant Bomb as part of his Bitesize Bomb video series.
The Giant Bomb Weekly Gallery
- @waluigi is the user to thank for the banner this week, and he also has a poster version of that artwork available here!
- @aurahack has an AMAZING portrait of Ryan.
- Finally, @humanity has created an AWESOME animated .gif of Eric Pope riding a slice of pizza.
Gallery
Community Activities
- NEW Private GB Community Server for Terraria 1.3 - Learn How to Join the Server Here!
- NEW Giant Bomb Community Driveclub Racing Club - Join Other Users That are Still Playing the Game Here!
Best of Blogs
- A Few Thoughts on Thief (2014) (By: @wemibelec90) - wemibelec90 finished the 2014 Thief reboot recently and was left seriously questioning if the dull and plodding game was worth the effort.
- July Vita Lineup and Upcoming Titles (By: @blacklagoon) - A new month means that BlackLagoon is back with a wonderfully convenient list of all of the games coming out for the PlayStation Vita.
- Dangerous Monster Crocodiles 4 and Other Excellent Uses of Time and Money (By: @arbitrarywater) - ArbitraryWater commentates on recent news pertaining to Fire Emblem Fates as well as his fortuitous romp through Devil May Cry 4 Special Edition on his latest blog.
- Playing My First Final Fantasy Game - Parts 21-37: The Quest to Defeat Disc One (By: @zombiepie) ZombiePie wrote a 6,000 word blog detailing his effort to complete disc one of Final Fantasy VIII, and Triple Triad may be his last hope at inner salvation.
- Some Thoughts After Replaying Halo: Combat Evolved (By: @grantheaslip) - Despite some gameplay contrivances here and there GrantHeaslip discusses why he respects the first Halo game from an academic perspective.
- I'm Trying To Finish 100 Games This Year (Here's How I'm Doing So Far) (By: @blzzzrrttt) - Back when 2015 first started blzzzrrttt had "completing 100 games within a year" as a resolution. Today he gives you a mid-year progress report on how that quest is going so far.
- The Comic Commish: NiGHTS into Dreams... & ST-urday #001: Bubble Bobble (By: @mento) - Giant Bomb moderator was gifted the Steam version of NiGHTS into Dreams, and you can read all about how the nightmare treated him. Mento also continues his retrospective of the Atari ST with an examination of the ST port of Bubble Bobble.
- The Fiesta! (Final Fantasy V) PART 1 & Final Fantasy V Four Job Fiesta: Part 2 & Final Fantasy V Four Job Fiesta: Part 3 (By: @theblue) - TheBlue is committed to completing Final Fantasy V using the Four Job Fiesta format, and you can read all about what this means and how having a Bard as well as a Samurai have been treating him in any of these blogs.
- Deconstructing Her Story (By: @beb) - Beb has a few ideas in terms of what really is going on with Her Story. Check them out and see if you agree in this SPOILER FILLED blog discussing Her Story.
- Riding Fallout 3 Down The Fury Road & Lost in the Myst: Part 3- Leaving the Myst (By: @thatpinguino) - thatpinguino has written a detailed post pertaining to Fallout 3's Republic of Dave sidequest. Also, if you have any concerns about thatpinguino finishing Myst earlier than expected, rest assured that I rope-a-doped him into playing Riven next.
- Time Limits Are a Fun Limiter (By: @mogarth) - Inspired by his playthrough with Captain Toad, Mogarth discusses why the game, and most games in general, should have avoided timed missions entirely.
- There's Something About Consoles (By: @jjweatherman) - JJWeatherman recently picked up an Xbox One, so check out his blog and read all about what drew him back into console gaming here.
- Why Backwards Compatibility is Crucially Important (By: @cairnsythebeard) - CairnsyTheBeard shares why he is excited for backwards compatibility for the Xbox One on his latest blog discussing why the feature is important to him.
Join the Discussion
- Ranking of Fighters Community Thread (By: @flstyle) - Did you enjoy the first episode of the Ranking of Fighters video series? Well here's a statistic from @marino to consider "There's 1399 fighting games in the GiantBomb database. If Jeff & Jason play 1 per week, we'd find out the best one in 2042."
- Rise of Incarnates Impressions Thread (By: @giant_gamer) - Rise of Incarnates has come out for real! Feel free to share your impressions of the game with the memebers of the Giant Bomb community that have also bought it.
- What's the Oldest Game you Actively Play? (By: @finaldasa) - While many gamers only look forward, others prefer to entrench themselves with the past. Of the games from the past that you play what is the oldest, and what keeps you hooked? Join the discussion here with your pick.
- What do you Think is Going on in the Story of Her Story? [SPOILER WARNING!] (By: @mattyftm) - If you have finished Her Story join our community poll and discussion thread regarding what YOU think is actually happening in the game. I cannot preface enough how this thread is for people wanting to discuss the ending of Her Story. SPOILER WARNING!
Lovable Lists
- Top 10 AMERICAN Games (A 4th of July Special) (By: @darkbeatdk) - DarkbeatDK is actually from Denmark, but still has played plenty of games that have reeked of American jingoism. See which games he found to be "the most American," on this list!
- Games of Video in the Year 1989 CE (by: @brodehouse) - Brodehouse looks back on the games from 1989 that he remembers enjoying the most on his top ten list of the best games of that year.
- Official EVO 2015 Games Line Up (By: @flstyle) - Are you still wondering which games are going to headline EVO 2015? Well FLStyle has you covered, plus the platforms they will be played on, on this list!
Wonderful Wikis
- Rise of Incarnates - Check out our detailed wiki page for the free to play and 2 vs. 2 fighting game, Rise of Incarnates, which just happens to be the recent release that has been catching everyone's attention the most this week.
- Substance Abuse Benefit - Check out our new and improved wiki concept page for "Substance Abuse Benefit," and see if you can think of examples!
- Lottie - A big thanks to @yummylee for adding in the secondary cast of Resident Evil: Revelations to the GB database! The following three pages are just evidence of that much appreciated hard work.
- Gina Foley
- Rachael Foley
Useful User Reviews
- @n7 shares his incredibly conflicted thoughts related to Batman: Arkham Knight on his review for the game. [SPOILER WARNING!]
- @perfidioussinn found Saints Row: Gat Out of Hell to be a fun but "hallow" experience and you can read why on his review for the game.
- @jaypb08 decided to go back to Star Fox 64 now that the hoopla over Star Fox Zero has finally begun to subside.
- @freezyfrog wanted to enjoy a neon drenched 4th of July so he went back to Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved, and you can read why he thinks the game continues to be a masterpiece on his review.